Cyano, Diatoms, or dreaded Dino’s?

[Lostoften]

Sadly, if there is an issue for a new tank to experience I feel that I have ran into it. Over the last week I have been battling this current battle. Corals are starting to be impacted by whatever it currently is.

Tank is 7 months old, Red Sea 625 (~130 gallon display). It’s almost at the end of running fallow due to velvet/flukes. For the last couple months have been reducing nutrients as tank had a bad GHA outbreak.

Nutrients have been very close to zero but don’t believe ever hit zero. I have been dosing NO3 and PO4 to prevent. Today PO4 is 0.01 and N03 is 2.4

 

[Lostoften]

I have been blowing off rocks/corals daily but this stuff comes back extremely quickly. It stays overnight in the sandbed (one post stated Dino’s don’t do that). Coral are agitated and LPS are recessed. Unfortunately blew some polyps off of a hammer trying to blow off this stuff.

 

[Idech]

It looks like dinos to me, and some cyano deep in the sand. The best is to check with a microscope if you can.

 

[Uncle99]

Something out of whack in chemistry.

I would have concerns At 0.01ppm phosphate, it may as well be zero, which pest type stuff like you have favours. You need to build up the good guy crew who keep rocks clean and sand white.

So feed them by bumping phosphate to say .1ppm, nitrate can stay where it is now but not less, we don’t want that zero as well. Ensure Alk is on point.

These conditions favour the good algae’s and bacteria’s we want, can’t see them, but they are there. As they build both populations and diversity, they will outcompete the bad for space and the bad, well, they just disappear.

In many cases, water chemistry is a large contributor to the ugly stuff.

 

[Lostoften]

Hated microscopes in school, let alone this toy from target. Attempted to capture and take a picture. This was 450x

 

[Idech]

@taricha can you see enough to tell ?

 

[Lostoften]

Posted on a facebook group, and they started ostreo.

Tank currently runs UV but it doesn’t meet the 1w to 3 gallons, and is running to and from sump. Ordered a 55w uv and a 400gph pump to run temporarily to and from the display tank. Also have some Dr Tim’s Eco Balance coming. I have been dosing phyto daily, but wasn’t turning off UV for an hour after dosing.

Corals look a little better today, PO4 was 0.09 and NO3 is 2.4

 

[taricha]

@taricha can you see enough to tell ?

Yep. The last two vids show ostreopsis

 

[Lostoften]

While waiting for the other UV to arrive, should I continue to blow off rocks/corals? One to give them relief and second to hope that some make it down to the 36w UV I have running off the sump.

 

[Lostoften]

PO4 back down to 0.01, is there any harm in dosing too fast? N03 is 2.8